Climbing and scaling device.



E. J. RIMMER. CLIMBING AND SUALING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED-11017.25,1910.

Patented July 18,1911.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD JOHNSON RIMMER, OF HIGHTOWN, ENGLAND.

CLIMBING AND SCALING DEVICE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD JOHNSON RIMMER, subject of the King of GreatBritain, residing at Hightown, in the county of Lancaster, in theKingdom of England, have invented a new and useful Climbing and ScalingDevice, of which the following is a specification.

It is the object of the invention to provide a simple device which canbe readily applied or adapted to any pole, and can be used by a personto enable the pole to be scaled or climbed with ease and certainty.

The device is useful not only with wooden poles, but with poles ofconcrete or other materials.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a view showing a complete de vice; Figs. 2 and 8 are viewsshowing a modified connection for the parts of the device, Fig. 2 beinga face view, and Fig. 3, a section thereof; Fig. 4 is a detail View of aclip used in the construction shown in Fig. 1; Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9are detail views showing modifications of the device illustrated in Fig.1.

Referring first to Fig. 1, a, a, are two hoops of springy steel of anysuitable kind, preferably hard silver hoop steel such as is used forsaws. The ends of the strip of material forming each hoop are connectedto gether by a suitable device allowing them to be disconnected whenrequired. In Fig. 1 a metal piece Z) with its edges turned over as shownis riveted to one end of the strip a, and the other end is passedbeneath the turned over edges of the piece 6 and is held in place by abent metal holder 0 which is inserted through a hole in the end carryingthe piece I) and in one of a series of holes in the other end of thestrip. The holder 0 is so made as shown that it can be applied only inone position and when turned from that position will fill the tworegistering holes and will so prevent the ends of the strip fromseparating. The turned over edges 6 will prevent the ends from openingout so that they can only be separated by sliding longitudinally oneupon the other. Slots are formed at d in each of the strips, and pins 6with their ends riveted over or with washers upon them as shown arepassed through the slots (Z to act as pivots connecting the oneSpecification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 25, 1910.

Patented July 18, 1911.

Serial No. 594,135.

hoop a with the other. f, f, are metal stir rups each attached to one ofthe hoops a at a suitable point as forinstance by a bolt g, the hoopbeing preferably strengthened by an inserted metal piece it at the pointof attachment of the stirrup. The edges of the hoops a may be roughenedor notched in any suitable way to cause them to grip the pole, asindicated in Figs. 8 and 9 for example, wherein portions of both anupper and a lower curve of the hoops a are shown, with inwardly turnedteeth y at their gripping edges; or pieces of hemp rope 70 or the likemay be inserted in the hoops to form the gripping surfaces, as indicatedin Fig. 1. The pieces of rope 70, if such are used, may be held in placeby wires Z having their ends passed through holes in the hoops andtwisted as shown to prevent them from being drawn through the holes, orany other suitable device may be used for binding the ropes 7c in place:At the ends where the ropes pass the attachment devices 6, c, the saidropes must be detachably held in place and for this purpose spring clipswe may be provided formed for instance as indicated in the detail view,Fig. 4, with a loop to fit around the rope and with bent tongues toengage, over the edges of the hoop. Instead of the rope is beingarranged as shown in Fig. 1, a rope may be used which is wrapped aroundthe hoop a as indicated in the detail view, Fig. 5; or the grippingsurface may be formed in any other suitable way as for instance byriveting a stout leather or indiarubber strip 1) in the hoop.

In place of the attachment device 7), c, any other suitable form ofremovable connection may be used. For instance, Figs. 2 and 3 show amodified construction. In this case one end of the hoop a has a metalpiece or bridge a riveted around or otherwise attached to it, into whichthe other end of the hoop a, having a number of holes therein as shown,is inserted. The end carrying the bridge piece a has a spring tongue 0riveted at g thereon, with a stud or pin 79 on its free end adapted topass through registering holes in the two ends of the hoop a and througha hole'in the bridge piece 72. Upon the bridge piece at is arranged aslide 1" working in guides s and with a slot 25 in it to permit thepassage of the head of the stud p, and to lock the latter asillustrated. A depression at u in the slide 1" engaging in acorresponding depression in the bridge piece n, will insure that theslide remains in the locking position unless forced away from the same.The pivots 6, instead of being formed as shown in Fig. 1, may forinstance be formed by brass or other rivets or rollers m, as indicatedin Fig. 7, passing through the slots at (Z in the hoops a and connectingthe hoops together while forming pivots for the same.

The device above described is used as follows :VVhen a pole is to besealed with the device, the connections at Z) of the ends of the hoopsare opened, allowing the device to be applied to the pole at the basethereof, and then the connections are remade so as to close the hoopsaround the pole in approximately the position shown in Fig. 1 with thestirrups f at the bottom of each side. The dotted lines marked w in Fig.1 represent a pole of small diameter to which the device is applied. Ifnow the person who wishes to scale the pole places his feet in thestirrups f his weight will cause the hoops a to occupy an inclinedposition in which they will grip the pole as indicated, and the pins 6in the slots (Z will permit of transverse movement of one hooprelatively to the other so that one hoop will not interfere with theadequate gripping of the other. The climber, standing erect, will holdthe pole in his clasped arms or otherwise and will then draw up his legswhen his feet will press against the tops of the stirrups so expandingthe device by causing the hoops to turn around the pivots e and to comemore nearly into the horizontal plane, whereby the device will beliberated from the pole, when it can be drawn up. The feet are thenpressed downward and inward causing the device to grip the pole againand then the arm-hold on the pole is raised and the same operationrepeated until the pole is scaled to any desired height. A similardevice to that shown may also be used for engaging the pole by the handsif required, the hands holding upon the stirrups f or any other handlesapplied in place of the stirrups. Usually however it will be suflicientto provide the gripping device as shown for use with the feet, and theclimber will rely upon his arms to hold the pole when raising the feet,and of course a belt or rope may be passed around the body of theclimber and around the pole in the usual way to prevent accidents. For apole of smaller size the hoops a would be reduced in size by connectingthem together by the device 0 or otherwise at holes farther from the endof the strip, and where taper poles are used the diameters of the hoopswill be set at the bottom of the pole to be only slightly larger thanthe diameter of the pole to be scaled;

then as the climber gets higher on the pole the angular movement of thedevice will be greater but owing to the flexibility of the hoops theywill still effectually shape themselves to and grip the pole even whenit is considerably smaller than the size of the aperture through. eachof the hoops. The slots d, besides having the action above referred toin permitting the hoops to grip the pole independently of one another,also allow for the changes in the size of the hoops for different sizesof poles, and permit the stirrups f to be fixed on the hoops, theselatter being turned to bring the stirrups to the mid-position betweenthe pivot points when the sizes of the hoops are changed by means of theconnections 7), c, or their equivalent. Of course however if the deviceis to be used on poles of a standard size only it need not necessarilybe provided with an adjustable connection for each of the hoops, but theends of the hoops may be arranged to be always connected together in oneand the same position as will be obvious.

The invention is not limited to the exact construction or constructionsdescribed but modifications in matters of detail may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention.

I declare that what I claim is 1. In a gripping device for use inclimbing poles, the combination of a pair of intersecting hoops, andmeans for pivotally connecting said hoops at their points ofintersection, each hoop being flexible in a plane passing through thepivots, and substantially rigid in a plane perpendicular to the firstplane; with attachments on the two members adapted to take the weight ofthe climber applied by the hands or feet to the said attachments.

2. In a gripping device for use in climbing poles, the combination of apair of curved members flexible in one plane and substantially rigid ina plane at right-angles thereto, and means for connecting the ends ofsaid curved members upon themselves to form closed hoops which areflexible in the plane of the circumference, but are substantially rigidin a plane at right-angles thereto; with means for pivotally connectingsaid members together, and attachments on the two members adapted totake the weight of the climber applied by the hands or feet to the saidattachments.

3. In a gripping device for use in climbing poles, the combination ofapair of flexible curved members with means for connecting the ends ofsaid members upon themselves to form closed hoops of various sizes,slots in the said members and rivets passed through corresponding slotsadapted to connect the two members pivotally together while permitting acertain amount of relative movement across the pivots, and attachmentson the two members adapted to take the weight of the climber applied bythe hands or feet to the said attachments.

4. In a gripping device for use in climbing poles, the combination of apair of fieXible curved members With means for connecting the ends ofsaid members upon themselves to form closed hoops of various sizes,gripping material applied to the inner faces of the curved members toform a resilient gripping surface, slots in the said members and rivetspassed through corresponding slots adapted to connect the two memberspivotally together while permitting a certain amount of relativemovement across the pivots, and attachments on the two members adaptedto take the Weight of the climber applied by the hands or feet to thesaid attachments.

5. lln a gripping device for use in climbing poles, the combination of apair of hoops and means permitting said hoops to be opened out andclosed on themselves as required, pivotal connections holding one hoopacross and around the other, and means for applying the Weight of theperson to each hoop at a point between the pivotal connections wherebythe hoops are caused to grip the pole to which they are applied.

6. A gripping device for use in climbing poles, comprising a pair offlat hoops of flexible metal, each hoop provided with disconnectiblemeans for connecting its ends together, two longitudinal slots in eachhoop at positions which lie approximately at opposite ends of a diameterof the closed hoop, rivets connecting the two hoops together said rivetspassing through the corresponding slots in the two hoops and holding onepivotally around the other, means for applying the weight of a person toeach hoop at a position intermediate between the pivots, and grippingsurfaces applied to the hoops at the places where the principal grippingaction occurs.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name this 12th day ofNovember 1910, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDWARD JOHNSON RIMMER.

Witnesses:

HUBERT ALEXANDER GILL, RICHARD LOVELL CLEAVER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

